The Winter I'll Never Forget
by PastellPop
Summary: (Haku x Akaito) It's winter of 19XX. Pessimistic Akaito unexpectedly meets and befriends Haku, a lonely and sickly girl who longs to one day recover from her sickness to be able to enjoy the snow. As Akaito spends more time by Haku's side, he slowly learns to find joy in little things. As Haku's condition begins to worsen, their precious friendship helps Haku to keep on smiling...


_To myself only, I singthis precious song_

_My heart creates magic, the world begins to glow_

_The night is friendly, the snow is gentle_

_And with my warm smile, I no longer feel alone_

_When I'm finally able to fly, I'll meet with you_

_and together, we'll make our wishes come true._

...

...

...

_**"Darn this snow..."**_

Akaito brushed a mass of fallen snow off his ruddy hair as he continued to scrape heavy, wet piles off of the walkway outside his small house.

"Winter, I hate this season. This is the fourth time I had to shovel all this darn snow!"

Akaito's parents were never home. He practically lived alone, even though he was sixteen and a student at Veux ca Loyd Academy for boys. And he didn't like it there, for quite a few reasons; the same few reasons why he acted pessimistic.

Once he was done clearing the walkways near his house, he wiped the sweat off his brow, tore his wet gloves off, stuffed hands in his jacket pockets, and walked down the cleaned-off sidewalk towards his usual place to get coffee every morning. Winter made his head ache.

When he flatly arrived to his quaint, cozy destination, he saw that the lights inside the café were off. More heavy snow slid off the roof and landed besides him. On the front door of the building, a grey paper card said in faded bold letters, "WE ARE CLOSED."

"Are you serious!?" Akaito grumbled. Seconds later, he moved his stiff body and lumbered back down the path, his small headache beginning to feel even worse.

The distant laughter of playing children in the snow-covered fields crept up and tickled his ears, agitating him even further as his steps turned into stomps.

_"Kids are so dumb... they can't even realize how messed up the world is and how useless their playing is... but in a strange way... I... sorta feel kind of jeal-"_

Interrupting his cynical thoughts, a small piece of paper, white as it could blend into the snow, sailed in through the peircingly cold, thin air and smacked Akaito right in the face.

"ACK." it was like a shock of white.

...he paused for an exaggeratingly long time, as if his tedious morning could not get any worse. The chilling blowing winds were so steady, that the smooth paper stuck to his face for a quite long time before he grumpily peeled it off.

Akaito was just about to thoughtlessly crumple the small white square and throw it somewhere, only he spotted handwriting on it. Loopy, elegant handwriting, despite being somewhat messy and scribbly. He thought the handwriting looked much too girly, but it strangely wasn't an eyesore to him.

_"Janurary 14, 19XX,"_ it read.

_"heavenly white snow once again covers the grounds outside. it makes everything look delightful, and wonderful as if i were looking at a painting._

_right now, as i gaze out the window, i wish i were out there, sledding, building a snowman or making snow angels. rolling through the snow must certainly feel like rolling through a dream, i'd imagine. i want to have a friend with me too, i wish-"_

Akaito curiously flipped the note over to the back to see if there was any more to it, but it was blank. The note was unfinished and abruptly cut itself off. Akaito secretly wanted to know where it came from, though he shrugged and folded the paper back in his jacket pocket and continued walking.

"Hmph, is she crazy?" Akaito thought nonchalantly, assuming the writer of the note was a female.

"Who would even want to be out in the snow anyway? Rolling in a _dream_? Really?"

Breaking his train of thought, Akaito heard a muffled cough echo through the still air. He lifted his head up and looked up and around, looking through the white roofs of houses, glassy windows...

He looked at one window just in time to see another small piece of paper spring out, then flutter from the window of the two-story house nearest to him.

Slightly puzzled, Akaito ran towards the spot and picked it up, he didn't read it, but in his glance, he saw that the handwriting on the note was the same as the other.

"Excuse me, but... could you please give those back to me?" an airy, somewhat shaky voice floated down weakly from above, followed with another cough.

"Um, sure." Akaito yelled up to the window.

"Oh, you can just... use the front door. And the stairs on the left, go up them, and then my room is on the right."

Akaito carefully listened to the muffled voice.

"Um, got it."

He felt strange for entering another person's house so randomly, but he was immediately drawn in by the coziness that wafted about inside of the interior. The brown wooden walls and floors, blue and lavender carpets, they had a strange aroma of drowsiness and peace. The temperature was delightfully warm as well.

Remembering the directions he was told, he found the staircase to the left, and entered the door to the right.

"creak..." the door hinges softly mewled.

The atmostphere of warmth and safety was even stronger in the small room. The walls were painted white and the furniture was of rich, soft colors. On the other side of the room, there hung several paintings of nature, somewhat simple, yet they all gave off a certain glow.

On the edge of the room, under a large curtained open window and a few drawings of butterflies, was a bed big enough for two people. And in it, was but one girl.

She was looking right at Akaito with modest, gentle eyes. Her face was sullen and pale, reminding Akaito directly of the snow he had just walked in from. Her body was rather lanky from what he could see that wasn't concealed under the thick bedsheets. Next to her was a slightly tattered journal that looked like it contained the same papers that floated to Akaito earlier. On her cheeks, was a bashful little expression.

"Um... here you go." Akaito slowly inched up to the edge of the bed and held his hand out, the sickly-looking girl reached to pull the crinkled notes in, reading over what she wrote on them.

"You... didn't read them, didn't you?" she asked, in a tone that was almost a murmur.

"Um... no. I mean... yes, I only read the first one."

"Not the second one?" the female asked.

"No." Akaito shook his head.

"Whew..." the frail girl let out a sigh before showing her gratitude. "Um... thank you though. Thank you very much!"

"Hm, you're welcome." Akaito honestly didn't know whether he should've just left then.

He would've, he was going to, but he strangely, he simply wouldn't walk out the door. Was he afraid of seeming rude?

The earnest, fragile-looking girl in the bed though-she looked almost like she was an untold story herself.

_"A long, sad story..."_ Akaito realized he was lost in thought when he saw that the girl's face was somewhat coy, head facing the window, yet at the same time, her eyes were facing the direction of him.

"Isn't the snow lovely?" she asked in a breathy tone, amongst the stilling silence.

And Akaito, the exact same person who was mentally cursing out the weather minutes earlier, decided to nod, just slightly.

"Have you built a snowman today?" she continued asking, with a gentle smile.

Akaito thinned his eyes. "What...?"

"I wish that I was healthy enough to be able to play outside and stroll through the snow. My mother said, since my body is weak, and the seasons are getting brutal, I should stay in bed, under the covers where it's warm, so I won't get any sicker. It's such a shame though... I love winter the most." the girl sighed, her voice gradually falling in volume. "She's sadly melancholy, yet graceful and sweet, and she brings people tons of joy..."

"She?" Akaito thought. What was with this strange girl, calling a season by a pronoun? But he did have to admit... he was feeling a twinge of sympathy.

"And if you play in the snow, then you are making friends with winter..." the girl quietly finished talking.

_"Haku..."_

Akaito spotted her name on the side of her notebook, in her now familiar loose handwriting. Haku Yowane, a name that to him, flowed together like smooth silk.

"Um... so..."

He just realized, out of all the questions he wanted to ask, he didn't know of where to start.

"Where are your... parents?" Akaito asked.

"Mom isn't home right now. Dad's never been home. My mom is probably out working hard for me to get better." Haku spoke.

"So... can I help you in any way, Haku...?" Akaito finally brought up the courage to speak.

"Oh, y-you don't have to do anything for me." Haku said. "But I want you to be happy and enjoy things. You enjoying the snow would be enough for me..."

"Why... don't you care about yourself?" Akaito interrupted. Haku immediately looked a little bit thrown back.

"Well... I do want to get better, but... in the meantime, I just want to m-make everyone else h-happy."

Akaito noticed Haku shivering slightly, then he noticed her thin, pale, uncovered neck, only slightly concealed by her thin hair.

"Haku, you seem cold." Somewhat sternly, Akaito removed his dark brown scarf from his neck, and with his warmth still lingering in the fabric, he lifted Haku's smooth hair and gently wrapped the scarf around her neck.

"You... why?" Haku asked, seeming somewhat reluctant and baffled.

"Because..." Akaito shifted his stern face away slightly.

"You seemed to have needed it more than I did."

"Thank you... but... I really just d-don't want it." Haku slid the warm, thick scarf of her neck and held it back out.

"I can tell that this scarf was special to you. See how it's slightly worn out?"

Haku pointed to the somewhat tattered spots with her thin fingers, and Akaito did think of how long he had worn the scarf, ever since he first moved to his new neighborhood. He never considered it special though...

"I really appreciate you being kind to me... but I wonder... why you seem so sad?" Haku suddenly asked, looking Akaito right in the eye. Her face looked unbalanced as she frowned in concern-large, round, droopy eyes, and a long, thin nose. Yet it was an innocent-looking, oddly endearing face.

"What makes you think I'm sad?" Akaito squinted.

"Well... why aren't you playing in the snow, or... smiling?" Haku asked in a voice that was coy to the point of being almost beseeching.

"Why... why do you want to see me smile so badly?" Akaito now grunted. It was his habit to become aggressive when he didn't understand something. He barely noticed it.

"Because I believe everyone can be happy if they just smile, if they just believe in happiness..." Haku's voice shook. "I even throw notes out the window on purpose sometimes, with nice messages on them, just to make someone feel good..."

Akaito, suddenly in disagreement, shook his head.

"Personally... I think people like you tend to go a bit overboard..."

His words were somewhat coated with aggression, as his speech normally was.

"Well... you see, it honestly... just doesn't work. It takes more than just smiling on the outside to fix what's inside." he paused to think of an example.

"Smiling... it isn't getting you out of the bed you're stuck in, isn't it? It's the truth... just because you made somebody smile, doesn't necessarily mean you made them happy."

When Haku's face became a shock of white, Akaito suddenly knew he said the wrong thing. The fragile, fragile, quiet tension in the room had gotten too much for him to put up with.

Right then, Akaito remembered a reason he had to be leaving soon.

"Um... Sorry, I really have to be home now, I have a lot of stupid school assignments to do." he tried smiling at Haku to see if she would smile back, but her face was looking too far down. He made himself assume she had smiled, anyway.

Akaito was aware he left her scarf on Haku's bedsheet, and he had on purpose.

When his back was turned towards the door on the other side of the room, Haku suddenly faced up, in time to see the thick white panel close behind before one last time. Everything was empty again. Still, heavy, white silence.

After a few lonely seconds of staring at the door, Haku's red eyes filled with tears. She clutched onto the thick scarf on her bed, trembling with small sobs, holding it up to her face as she began to cry.

...

...

...

...

**(super-long) ENDNOTE: **In case you didn't realize, "Veux ca Loyd Academy" is a pun I made on "Vocaloid Academy". "Veux ca Loyd" is a really frenchy-kind-of name, but it should be pronounced like "Vocaloid"! (...I think. XD... if "veux" is really pronounced like "voah"...)

The story is supposed to take place in 'simpler times', you know, before cellphones and all. Before even cars, perhaps. Before advanced medicine was there, for people like Haku.

This story is planned on being 5-9 chapters of the same length. Part 1 is probably the worst part but *sigh*, gotta start somewhere.

By the way, I got the inspiration of the story by listening to "Yoru no Uta" from Cardcaptor Sakura. The lyrics are so peaceful, simple and yearning in a way, it seemed like the exact kind of song a lonely girl like Haku would write. The part that inspired in the most was:

_"On a sleepless night, I sing this song alone._

_Tomorrow, I'll sing with you, riding on the wings of a dream"_

To me, it symbolizes that when she's alone, she dreams about happy things to soothe her loneliness.

"Tomorrow" symbolizes the future where she's recovered, and is able to live her wishes together with a friend.

I'm even thinking that I should be crediting Cardcaptor Sakura here as a source, because it feels like the songs I wrote within the story are like, rip-offs of "Yoru no Uta", "Tomoe" and "Yasashisa no Tane". OTL


End file.
